Purple Martin Forum

I have had a colony of purple Martins for 26 years. They used to always come on April 24 every year. The last three years they have come around April 10. I live in South Dakota and this year the weather was extremely cold late into the spring. I have three purple Martin poles with a total of 44 gour...

I live in South Dakota. My birds usually arrive on April 24 each year. I'm looking for advice on sparrow traps. Currently, I have 3 of the Van Ert sparrow traps set up in 3 "blue bird" houses. And I catch sparrows year round. But I'd like to invest in a larger cage style trap, where I can...

Just a follow up. I had seven of my old friends come by tonight for a purple Martin viewing. Most of them had no understanding so it was a wonderful educational experience. They were all super impressed. I lowered my gourd rack and did remove one chick. Absolutely no problems. Lots of photos were ta...

Thanks for the info. I have 24 gourds. 18 of them have PM eggs. So far this year, I have 92 eggs. 12 eggs have hatched. There should be hatchings every day for the next 2 weeks. This is the most PMs I've ever had in the 20 years I've done this. Everyone just loves watching them. I'm having a group c...

Perhaps this is a dumb question. I know that in general, one should never handle baby birds while they’re in the nest. But is it possible to pick one up and hold it for a few seconds if it’s about 5 to 10 days old. I have an older person coming by to see my purple Martins. He has never seen one befo...

Thank you so much for your reply. That is pretty much what I was thinking, but I just wanted to be sure. I’ll take your suggestion and run with it.

I have a colony with 24 gourds here in South Dakota. Out of my 24 gourds, about 6 are being used by sparrows. I clean them out, and then in 2 days the sparrows build a new nest. All of my Martins are here for the year and are using the other 18 gourds. So what should I do with the 6 sparrow nests? T...

I have a question about what to do with my sparrow nests. I live in South Dakota. I have 24 gourds in my setup. 16 of the gourds are occupied by purple martins. All 16 have well established nests. Egg laying should begin shortly. Two gourds are empty. And six are used by house sparrows. I have eutha...

Thanks for all of your replies. I will just store them in my basement as usual this winter and put them up about April 1 next year

I just spent the last day cleaning out the 24 gourds that I have. Just to let you know… I live in South Dakota, so we can have some very harsh and blizzardy winters. Do most people store their gourds over the winter? Or is it OK if I simply rehang the gourds so that they are ready next April when th...

Although I have raised purple martins for about 20 years, this is the first year that I managed my birds and kept records. My birds arrived on April 25. I have 24 gourds on two separate poles. This year, 12 of them were occupied by Purple Martin‘s. I battled with the sparrows on the other 12 gourds....

I guess I will just enter the data the best I can and submit it. Thanks.

I have had Martin‘s for about 20 years. But this is the first year that I’ve actively managed my nests, and have been faithfully filling out the data in my colony nest checks on this site. But I’m having one particular problem. Sometimes during data entry, it will not allow me to enter the number of...

Thanks for all of your replies. I also did some further research. I really do not have the ability nor tools to replace the nest, so today I went out and purchased Sevin 5% with carbaryl. I took a long handled teaspoon and filled it with about half teaspoon of powder. Then I dropped the powder insid...

Just to give you a short update on my birds and a question about mites. I have 24 gourds on two separate poles. One pole has 8 gourds, and the other pole has 16 gourds. 12 of my Gourds Contain Purple Martin Nests. The other 12 gourds are either empty, or have partial Purple Martin nests. Five gourds...

Tomorrow morning I am having a total knee replacement surgery on my left knee. This evening I decided to do what might be my final nest check for the year. I have 10 gourds containing 45 eggs. And tonight when I checked, three of the nests had hatched in the last couple days so I have 12 baby hatchl...

Just giving everyone an update. My neighbor across the fence from me purchased a deluxe repeating sparrow trap which he set up a couple days ago. He’s already caught 12 sparrows the last two days. His trap is 20 feet from my Martin pole. I also made the holes on six of my “sparrow” gourds 1 1/4 inch...

I know this is a very old post. I would use those little doggie poop bags. Just grab the sparrow using one of these bags, as if you are picking up poop. Turn it inside out, a squirt of starter fluid, tie the bag shut, and toss it in the garbage. It’s just like falling asleep under anesthesia.

Thanks for the info. I'd love to shoot them, but I live in a city with 150,000 people where that is "illegal." (unless there's a way to kill them with some kind of a pellet gun) I actually have 2 separate poles about 100 feet apart. Most of the sparrows are using the gourd rack with 8 gour...

I've had P. Martins for 20 years, but am now taking more of an interest in them now that I'm retired. I currently have 24 gourds (Troyer and S&K)....All with crescent holes and porches. Of the 24 gourds, 10 have P Martins nests containing 43 eggs as of today. About 6 gourds belong to sparrows an...